Patience is a virtue, but not everyone seems interested in practicing it.

In this story, a customer service representative barely had time to log in before receiving an angry call from a customer demanding to know where her money was. The payment had already been processed, but that wasn’t enough to stop the frustration, accusations, and unexpected threats that followed. It started as a simple explanation, but ended with an irate threat from the customer.

This story is a relatable glimpse into the realities of customer service, where some people expect instant results and zero delays. You will enjoy the mix of humor, frustration, and secondhand embarrassment that comes from watching someone completely overreact to a situation they just needed to wait a little longer to resolve. Read the full story below.

Patience, dear customer. Hold your horses!

I do not get paid to teach people how to wait, or why it’s necessary. At this point, I just want to scream!

Me: “Hello, and welcome to [company]. You’re speaking to Hope. How can I help?”

Cx: “You guys owe me money. You said you would pay me on [date]. That’s today! Where is it? Because it’s not in my account!”

She had barely started her work day.

You guys should know that this call took place at 9:00 a.m. and rang through to me as soon as I logged in, without a beat or pause to breathe. So I was already mad as heck!

We go through security, and I find the payment. It was quite a bit of money, almost £5,000.

As this is a substantial amount, and having worked for financial institutions and banks before, I know that when an account is receiving a large, tax-free payment like this, banks often run additional security checks.

She just had to wait until the close of business!

The impatient customer made a threat and then hung up.

Me: “I have found the payment for £5,000 being transferred to your account. However, it can take until the close of business for the funds to arrive. Please check again tomorrow. If it doesn’t arrive, give us a call.”

Cx: “UGH, YOU BETTER HAVE PAID ME! IF YOU HAVEN’T, I WILL COME TO YOUR OFFICE MYSELF!”

Click.

She was never going to get entry into the office. We have security guards at every entrance, and the entire building is covered by CCTV.

Yikes, I wouldn’t want to be in this customer service representative’s shoes. Explaining something simple to an already irate caller is like reasoning with a toddler mid-meltdown: pointless, futile, and very ineffective. Some people just need to be patient, or at least place their anger towards the right people, not the poor customer service employee who had nothing to do with the delay.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a customer complaint that led to them losing their VIP status.

Let’s read what other people in the comments section of Reddit have to say about this.

Here’s a similar story.

Another reader chimes in.

This user shares a related experience.

And here’s another story about impatient callers.

If customers learned to wait, call center complaint volumes would drop.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a customer complaint that led to them losing their VIP status.